Destiny 2’s Season of Defiance has kicked off alongside the launch of the game’s latest expansion, Lightfall, and as usual, there are plenty of new secrets to find and activities to take part in. On the seasonal front, players will be taking part in Defiant Battlegrounds, a spin on the familiar activity that Destiny 2 players have experienced in past seasons, including the recent Season of the Seraph’s Heist Battlegrounds. As well as some different objectives and maps, Defiant Battlegrounds have introduced a new but familiar gameplay feature called Awoken Favors, which grant buffs similar to ones you’d find in Dares of Eternity.
Awoken Favors come in three distinct types, which are unlockable via the War Table in the HELM. Under Favor Attunements, you can find them as the upgrades Exemplar of Justice, Exemplar of Grace, and Exemplar of Zeal. The Exemplar of Justice grants a Favor that improves your and your allies’ melee recharge when you get final blows with abilities (e.g. your charged melee, grenade, or Super). The Exemplar of Grace improves your team’s mobility for a short bit of time when you get final blows with weapons that use special ammo. The Exemplar of Zeal grants your team a better recharge rate on grenades when you get final blows with Heavy ammo weapons. These buffs are only available in seasonal activities, and they aren’t guaranteed to drop even if you have unlocked them.
To get Awoken Favors to drop more consistently in seasonal activities, players will have to equip up to four pieces of the new seasonal armor, the Unyielding Favor set. Unyielding Favor armor comes with a perk called Queen’s Favor, which basically makes it so that Awoken Favors drop with fewer final blows, increasing the likelihood of them dropping in activities. Additionally, the bonus stacks up to four times, so players won’t need the whole set, leaving you room to still equip a piece of Exotic armor without sacrificing the maximum bonus. This is especially handy early on in the Season of Defiance quest We Stand Unbroken,” where one of the steps is to collect three Awoken Favors, and it might even be helpful to make an Unyielding Favor loadout for the rest of the season.